Break Down The Walls
by LetsGiveThisOneMoreShot
Summary: One night after a show, Angelina went looking for a wrestler she was dying to meet. The meeting didn't go quite as she expected and she left never wanting to see him again. However for him, that meeting sparked him wanting to track her down.
1. Chapter 1

Angelina had decided that she was going to go to the house show that was in the town near her. She went alone, dressed in tight jeans, a black tank top, and her wavy blonde hair flowing freely. The crowd wasn't as large so she ended up getting as close to the front row as possible. And the performers had more freedom than they usually did on their televised shows. Between her looks, being lone, and as close as she was, it wasn't hard for her to catch the eye of a few of the guys there. She finally ended up catching the eye of the one person she wanted to talk to.

After the show she made her way around to where all the wrestlers parked. There were a few buses, many cars, some trucks. As she walked around she heard a whistle from behind her. She turned around and saw a man hanging out of the door of one of the tour buses. He nodded his head and she smiled and jogged over. She walked up into the bus and he shut the door behind her.

"So I guess it wasn't my imagination. You really were watching me out there huh?" He asked as he walked around her, like a hunter circling his prey.

"Yes I was. I was really hoping to meet you." Angelina replied with a smile.

"Well your wish is my command." He said as he stood in front of her.

"Is this bus all yours?" Angelina asked as she looked around admiring how nice it was. It wasn't just a bus to ride in, it was a fully equipped tour bus. Made for comfort.

"Sure is. With the amount and various places I travel, I want to be comfortable." He was Chris Jericho. He was doing stints in WWE, as well as other companies, as well as doing shows with his band, and other side projects he was working on. He sure could afford it. "Now, is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?" He asked suggestively.

"Like what? I was really just hoping to meet you." She replied sweetly.

He took her by the hand, pulling him close to him and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Whatever you want. As I said, your wish is my command." He said with a sly smile.

"Hmmm, can I call you daddy?" She asked.

He chucked. "Whatever gets you purring kitten."

She traced her fingers up his chest. "You know, for years I've dreamed of meeting you and calling you that."

"Oh really?" He asked in a low voice.

"Yes...But I don't think I will anymore. Mom was right about you. You're a pig." She said sternly and pushed him away. She turned around and quickly walked over to the door of the bus, opened it, and hopped down off the step.

"What the…" Chris said as he shook his head.

He ran after her and hung off of the side of the bus again, but in the dark he didn't see her anywhere. She could have been hiding, or blended in with the rest of the people out in the parking lot. He went back inside the bus and sat down on the couch to think.


	2. Chapter 2

Throughout the night, he had figured out where he needed to go to try and figure out what happened. He put on a hat and sunglasses and a sweatshirt hoping to disguise himself and went to a local food store with a basket of items and got into the line of a middle aged woman.

"Did you find everything you were looking for?" She asked as she began ringing up his items.

"I found you, so yes."

She looked up at the customer after hearing that comment and sighed. "What do you want?" She asked still ringing out the items on the conveyor belt.

"I wanted to talk to you about an encounter I had last night." Chris replied.

"I really don't need to hear about any encounters you have. That'll be $27.93."

"Beth we need to talk."

"We do not. You need to pay me $27.93, then you need to leave so I can continue my job."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet handing her his credit card. "Look, we need to talk. I'll wait around here all day if I have to."

"I'll just call the manager."

"Not if I'm in the parking lot. It's a public place and I'm a paying customer."

"Chris I warned her not to go. But she's a big girl now and can make her own choices." Beth said as she ran the credit card.

"You knew she went? Where is she now?"

Beth laughed. "Now you care all of the sudden?"

"I've always cared." He replied.

"Sure have a funny way of showing it." She said as she ripped off the receipt. "Just go away and leave her alone. It's not her fault that you feel the need to hang everything with a pulse and travel all over the world. Don't go messing up her life now. It's been fine for the last seventeen years."

Beth handed him his receipt, turned off her light, and walked away into an employees only break room where she knew Chris couldn't follow. After he had left and she had taken a break to get herself together, she went back to work to finish her shift. She had said goodbye to her co workers and was walking towards her car looking for her keys in her purse when she heard a voice behind her.

"Hey."

"What the hell are you doing?" Beth asked startled.

"I told you I'd wait out here."

"Chris, I really don't see how any good can come from us talking."

"Then let me help. A lot of things hit me after last night. I was right in front of her and didn't even know my own daughter. That is a problem."

"And who's fault is that? You were given every opportunity to be in her life but wrestling and music were always more important. "

"They weren't more important."

"Could've fooled us. You were rarely there."

"I made sure I was there for her first birthday!" Chris argued.

"And what about the other sixteen?" Beth asked. "She has years of anger and hurt build up inside of her."

"Maybe I can talk to her." Chris suggested.

"At this point shes more likely to kill you than talk to you."

"Maybe I can try. You haven't killed me yet. And if she doesn't at least I tried."

Beth signed again. "You can sit down and talk with me. But just me for now. And if she ends up killing you, I'm alibiing her."


	3. Chapter 3

Beth and Chris were sitting at the small table she had in her kitchen.

"You know, if she doesn't want to have anything to do with you, you can't really blame her." Beth said as she sipped a cup of tea.

"You could have told her more about me." Chris stated.

"You could have visited her more." Beth retorted. "I wasn't about to go through years of "when's daddy coming home?" and "did he forget about me?". Once you stopped coming around, and she stopped bringing you up, so did I. Honestly you should be lucky that I never took your ass to court."  
"Hey! I helped!" Chris defended.

"Barely." Beth snorted. "You sent a couple hundred bucks over the first five years then stopped."

"I figured she'd be out of diapers and all by then so you wouldn't need as much." Chris replied.

"Do you have any idea how much it costs to raise a kid Chris? I've constantly had to work two or three jobs at a time just to make ends meet! I tried to do whatever I could to make sure Angie could do the activities she wanted, and it was hard. There were times we had to sacrifice other things for that. We didn't always make it. I've barely been able to put anything away for college and she starts her senior year in two months! Then you show up with your cars, and big house, and bus. And don't even get me started on how she ended up getting to talk to you!"

Beth had unintentionally released everything that she had been holding inside for years. She thought she had gotten over all of the anger and resentment, but apparently she did not. Now that he was in front of her, trying to give her stupid excuses, she wasn't able to hold in how she felt. She did get over him leaving her then hooking up with random women as he traveled all over the world, but she couldn't get over the fact that over time he started coming around less, then just stopped coming all together to see their daughter.

"Honestly, I don't think you'll ever be able to convince her she's important to you, because you can't convince me." Beth stated.

"Just let me talk with her. Spend some time with her." Chris pleaded. "What about my cruise It launches in a few weeks. Let me take her with me!" He suggested.

"I don't think she'd want to do that Chris. Dinner maybe, but going out on the ocean for a week with nowhere to run away if she wanted, I'm not sure you can get her to agree to that."

"You're her mother. Can't you make her?"

Beth laughed. "You clearly don't know anything about raising kids." He looked at her funny. "Chris, she's seventeen. And a good kid. She gets good grades, keeps out of trouble, I can't really force her to do anything. Except the curfew she has."

"Can you at least try?" Chris asked.

Beth sighed. "If it's that important to you, I'll talk with her. But I'm not going to force her to do anything. I'm going to let her make her male the decision on her own."

They both looked towards the living room when they heard the front door open.

"Hey mom, I'm back! What's for dinner?" Angelina asked as she was walking into the kitchen. She stopped when she saw Chris. "What are you doing here?"

"He came to talk to me." Beth replied.

"Why? Actually, I don't care. I'm going upstairs." Before either of them could answer she left them and went up to her room.

"You should go." Beth said to Chris.

"But I want to talk to her." Chris protested.

"It's better if I talk with her first. Trust me."

Chris didn't really want to, but he left. Beth went to make dinner for herself and her daughter. About an hour later, she put the food on the table and called Angelina downstairs.

"Is he still here?" She yelled down the stairs.

"No. He left a while ago." Beth replied.

Angelina came downstairs to join her mother to eat. She didn't even want to bring up Chris or why he was there or what they were talking about. She just wanted to ignore that he existed.

"So I was thinking, how would you like to go on a cruise this summer?" Beth asked breaking the silence that was between them.

"That sounds amazing. But how can you afford that?" Angelina asked. She knew how hard her mother worked for everything that they had.

"Oh. I got a great deal on it. It's one of those new specialty cruises. It's kind of an experimental thing." Beth replied, slightly truthfully trying to make it sound appealing to her.

"Is it safe? This sounds like one of those things where we wake up in Cuba with missing organs."

Beth laughed. "Yes. You'll be safe."

"Where does it go?"

"I think it just floats around. I don't think it actually stops anywhere. So that should ease your mind."

"What kind of specialty cruise is it?"

"It's the first wrestling cruise." Beth answered softly.

"No. Mom, seriously?"

"He offered a free cruise." Beth shrugged.

"And that's supposed to make up for never being there?"

"Of course not. He told me that he wanted to spend some time with you and brought this up. I told him I'd talk to you about it."

"Well you did and now we can drop it." Angelina stated then went back to eating.

"It's your choice. I told him I'd talk with you bout it but wouldn't make the decision for you." Beth explained. A few moments of silence went by without a reply. "He's not a bad guy you know. He just never had anyone force him to be grounded."

Angelina dropped her fork onto her plate. "How can you say that?"

"He's made some bad choices but he's not a bad man."

The only reply Angelina gave was a snort of disapproval.

"Sweetie, you have to try and understand, like I had to." Beth said calmly taking her daughter's hand across the table. "I was only two years older than you when we had you. You were very unplanned, but we were excited. Right around that time, he had been offered a deal to try out for something he had been working on for a very long time. I didn't want to hold him back from it. And it turns out, he was great and took off. He got offered a more serious deal and was gone more. I wasn't about to waste my time and energy arguing with him when I had you at home to take care of. If he wanted to go and travel around and wrestle and make music, it was just easier to let him. So we went our separate ways."

"He's an asshole. He was never there for either of us and now all of the sudden he wants to come back because he feels guilty."

Beth debated in her head for a moment before making a choice. "Hold that thought." She got up from the table and went up to her room, returning a few minutes later holding a few books in her arms. She set them down on the table, then sat down next to Angelina. "I've had these for a while, thought I would bring them out a lot earlier than this, but things didn't end up going how I thought they would. Anyway, I know you're angry. I'm not going to tell you that you shouldn't be. But saying he was _never_ there isn't true."

Beth opened up one of the photo albums. There were a lot of pictures from when Angelina was a baby and a toddler in this one. Birthday parties, holidays, family picnics, and Chris was in all of them. He was in the background a lot with some goofy look on his face. Some were nice family pictures. They spent a while going through them and talking about what was going on at the time the picture was taken. Angelina of course didn't remember this. She was all too young. She thought she remembered some things from when she was a bit older, but she never remembered Chris being there.

"You two looked so happy." Angelina commented.

"We were. We were young and in love." Beth smiled. "We talked about getting married. Then we ended up having you, and then things changed. When he was offered the bigger deal he wasn't able to be around as much and it didn't seem fair for us to just be waiting around for each other. Deep down we both knew we'd end up unhappy and fighting if we stayed together with everything that was going on, so we just quietly stopped. I never stopped loving him back then."

"But you always said he was such a pig." Angelina said confused.

Beth sighed. "I did. And he was, but not back then. When you asked and were old enough, I told you who he was and that we weren't together. I told you could handle at the time. Then when you were older and we had the internet and you looked him up and came to me, and told me about all the things he was involved in and the people he was with, I got angry and said my own personal opinions to you that I shouldn't have. I followed his career a bit but never his personal life. And to find out he was just staying single and being with people around the world, I got angry. We both ended up having mutual hatred and anger, and after that it was kind of hard to go back and tell you all of the good times. But when we were younger, he was a good friend, a great boyfriend, an involved father. When he was home he'd stay up late with you while I rested, he changed diapers. I'm sure that person is still deep down in him somewhere, I've just stopped looking long ago and tried to focus on our life."

"Well, why did he stop coming around? It looks like after I was five or six he wasn't in pictures anymore. And I don't remember any phone calls from him." Angelina asked.

"You'll have to ask him if you want that answer. I never did. I always thought the answer would piss me off too much so I was too scared to ask." Beth replied.

Angelina sat looking through the pictures a little more and thought about the long talk she just had with her mother. She always appreciated everything her mother did for her. Growing up, she would be angry at her mother for her not having her father in her life, for her mother not telling her about him, she always thought that her mother was keeping him away. Then finding out that wasn't true, made her love her mother even more for not showing her the anger she had inside and they both focused it all on Chris. And now she was learning a whole new side to a man she actually really didn't know.

"Do you think going is a good idea?" She finally asked.

"That's totally up to you sweetheart." Beth said as she put her arm around her. "If you want to have a relationship with him you're entitled to. I won't discourage it. Or if you want to never talk to him again that's fine too. Whatever you feel is right I'll support you."

Angelina smiled and tightly wrapped her arms around her mom. "Thanks mom."


	4. Chapter 4

Angela packed her suitcase , taking everything with her she thought she'd need She still wasn't too sure about the trip. When she agreed she thought her mother was going as well When she found out that it was going to be just her she almost called it off. She kind of felt like she was being set up in some way. But Beth kept trying to explain to her that the point of the trip was her to spend time with Chris and get to know him. And she also kept assuring her if she decided she didn't want a relationship with him that was fine. After almost a day or discussing, she finally gave in and said she would still go.

Beth knocked on the archway to Angelina's bedroom door. "You all ready to go?"

"I think so." Angelina replied.

"Alright. Let's get going. Chris said that he and the talent have an earlier board time so they can get settled before everyone else arrives."

"I don't have to stay in a room with him do I?" Angelina asked nervously before she bent down to pick up her suitcase.

"Absolutely not. I made sure of that." Beth answered.

They threw the suitcase in the trunk of the car and began their drive to the shipping dock. It was just under a half hour drive. They tried to make small talk along and the way and make each other think they were okay when in reality they were both nervous. Beth was still a little worried about letting her daughter go off on a cruise without her, let alone in this kind of situation. She knew Chris would never let anything happen to her, but still things happen. It'd be the first time she'd really be going somewhere on her own, other than a weekend vacation with a friend and their parents. She was being a mother and having a hard time letting her go. She just had to keep reminding herself that Angelina wasn't a kid, she was almost an adult. And she had a good head on her shoulders.

They pulled up to where the cruise ship was.

"Well, look at it this way, if nothing else you'll spend a week out on the ocean working on your tan!" Beth tried to lighten up the tension in the car ride.

Angelina laughed. "I guess that's true. I did bring a few books I was hoping to catch up on."

Chris has jogged over to the car when he saw them pull up. "Hey! I'm glad you made it!

Beth and Angelina got out of the car and walked around the back. Beth greeted Chris while Angelina still stayed somewhat silent.

"Here, let me get that." Chris said as he took the suitcase out of the trunk. "So I made sure you have one of the nicest suites. And everything you want to do feel free. There's no charge for anything. I put your name and room number under mind so you shouldn't have any problems. But if you do, let me know."

Chris was trying really hard to be accommodating and nice. Bath had talked with Chris the day before about how Angelina was still really unsure of this but she still wanted to give it a try. Chris was thankful that she had agreed and was trying to make her as comfortable as he could. When they got to the entrance of the ship Angelina hugged her mother who had hugged her back tightly.

"Have fun okay?" Beth said to her.

"I'll try." Angelina replied.

After they said their goodbyes, Chris and Angelina began walking up to the ship. He did all the talking as they boarded and walked her to her room.

"So, do you like Angelina? Or Angel? Or what?" Chris asked as they walked.

"Angie's fine." She replied.

"Okay, Angie, cool."

"I'm sticking with Chris." She added.

"That's okay. Whatever you're comfortable with." He replied as they reached her room.

When he opened the door and they walked in, she was in awe of. It was bigger than her bedroom at home. It had a king size bed, private balcony, couch and seating area. It looked like a nice little apartment.

"Everything should be all ready. There's a map and schedule on the bed. No alcohol though. Your mom would kill me." Chris said as he placed her suitcase down.

"This is beautiful." She said as she looked around.

"So Angie, um, tonight we're having a big dinner. Trying to get everyone together and have a big fun welcome bash type thing. And I was wondering since you're traveling alone if you wanted to sit with me." Chris said.

She stopped looking around the room and turned to face him. "I'd really rather not."

"Oh. Okay." Chris replied sounding a little discouraged. He had really expected her to agree.

"It's not you. It's just, if it's going to be this big thing and everyone having a party I don't want to be up there with you and have people think I'm your girlfriend or something." She explained. "I want to blend in while I'm here. We can do dinner another night, something more low key where we can actually talk."

"Alight! That sounds good!" Chris said more upbeat now, happy he wasn't just trying to ignore her.

Angelina went off to see the bathroom,

"Listen, I Hate to just drop you off and run, but I need to go and check on everyone else and make sure everything is going smoothly for them."

"Okay. I guess I'll see you around later then." Angelina replied.

Chris nodded, not exactly sure how they should be saying goodbye to each other at this point. But she hadn't made any effort to give him a hug or anything extra. So he just went on his way to take care of the rest of his responsibilities. Angelina sat down on the bed, surprised at how comfortable a bed at sea seemed. She looked towards where the balcony as, thinking about how when the ship left the port how she'd be looking out and nothing but sun and ocean. Though still nervous and wondering if she could bolt off the ship before it left, she was looking forward to that view.


	5. Chapter 5

That night at dinner Angelina had started off sitting at a table by herself. Eventually other people joined her and she made small talk and laughed. She really was only there to eat. But it was nice to have someone to talk to after being alone most of the day. When she awoke the next morning she forgot for a brief moment why she was even there. She was comfortable in the bed. The sunshine was lighting up her room. When she sat up she could see the ocean out of the balcony doors. It was all really nice. She reached over and grabbed the schedule that was left in her room and looked at everything that was going on for that day. She glanced over all of the autograph signings and matching, not caring about any of that. She did see a few exercise classes that seemed like they could be fun. And she noticed the ship had a spa, which was something she thought she might take advantage of. Half of the day was gone and she was laying out on a lounge chair by one of the pools. She had a cute bikini with tiny flamingos all over it and large sunglasses covering up her face from the sun. "Hey." She heard a male voice say from next to her. She turned her head to see a man, who looked about her age, had sat down next to her. "Hi." "I'm guessing since there's a show going on right now and you're here all by yourself you did not come on this cruise for wrestling." He said. "You would be guessing right." "Boyfriend drag you along?" "My dad. We're supposed to be bonding." The man laughed. "I've seen you around a few times. You've always been by yourself. Doesn't sound like you're spending too much time together." "Thank you!" Angelina exclaimed as she threw her arms up into the air. "Having some daddy issues?" He chuckled. "I suppose you could say that." She replied. Little did they know that Chris was nearby and had been listening to their conversation. When he hadn't seen Angelina out at the matches, he snuck off to go and see if he could find her. He was mad at first at what he overheard, but that anger quickly turned to himself. When he thought about it, he hadn't seen her since she had arrived. He felt like he was failing her again. Then they reality set in that this twenty year old was probably hitting on his daughter and that made him spring into action. "Hey guys. Sorry but the pools are closed when events are going on." He said as he approached them. "I didn't see that mentioned on the brochures I have." Angelina replied without looking over at him. "Well since there are performers and staff at the event it's not safe to be over here alone." "There's a lifeguard right there." Angelina argued. "Pools off limits. Ho back to your rooms." Chris said frustrated. "So it's either your events or our rooms? That sounds more like kidnapping than a vacation." Angelina remarked. "Son, how old are you?" Chris asked the young man who was sitting with her. "Twenty one sir" He answered. "Get out of here kid. She's underage." "Excuse me? You can't say who I can and can't talk to and where I can and can't go." Angelina told him as she stood up. "I can. It's my cruise. I make the rules. Now you get back to your room and you leave her alone." Angelina stormed off away from both of them without a word. Chris was standing awkwardly with the cruise ship guest not really sure of what to do after that unexpected outburst. "Safety first, ya know?" He managed to get out with a shrug then scurry off. Angelina was back in her room. She had gotten changed and was sitting out on her balcony reading one of the books that she brought. She heard a knock at her door. She placed her book down and went over to see who it was. She looked through the peephole and saw Chris standing there. "Sorry. I'm not allowed to open my door. There may be someone with a penis out there that might try to talk yo me." She said through the closed door. "Please open the door." Chris asked. "Nope. Sorry." "You know I have a key right?" Angelina sighed and opened the door. "What?" "You said we could have dinner. I grabbed some food and brought it with me." He said holding up a plastic bag. "I don't feel like it." "Come on…" "No. You invite me here, don't spend any time with me, then yell at me for doing things on my own which you told me to do. I really don't need any of this." Angelina went off on him. "I'm sorry. I'm still trying to get used to this. When I had planned this whole thing out I had no idea that you'd have been coming with me! I've been spending a lot of time trying to make sure the guys are okay and safe and that the fans who paid to be here are having a good time. It's been a busy past few days. I swear I still want to make time for you." Chris tried to explain. "So far I feel like I shouldn't have come." Angelina said honestly. "I'm sorry. The last thing I want to do right now is upset you again. Please, let's just sit down and talk." Chris did seem legitimately upset. He didn't seem like he was acting or putting on a show. He seemed like he actually did feel bad about all of this. "Fine. But tomorrow. I'm going to the spa today for some much needed relaxing me time." Angelina replied. "Okay, that sounds fair. Brunch tomorrow?" Chris offered. "Sure." "I'll be back here at 10:30." He smiled. He left the bag of food there for her in case she wanted it later and went off to do whatever had to be done next. Angelina never really had the ability to do fun things like spa days due to money being so tight, so she was going to take tonight for herself. Also with the stress of the passed week, she could use a little relaxation. 


	6. Chapter 6

"So how was the spa?" Chris asked while they were sitting across the table the next morning.

"It was really nice. I had a great experience." Angelina replied while taking a sip of her orange juice.

"Good. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself." Chris said with a smile. "So, Angie, do you know what you want to do when you're done high school?"

"I've been debating." She replied as they ate. "I feel like I'd really like to go into education, but the job market in that field is so hard to get into right now. So I feel like I should go for something more promising."

"My advice do what you love. Do what you want to do with your life. If you work hard you can find a way to make it work."

"True. But sometimes it means sacrificing a lot." Angelina said as she took a break from eating and looked at him.

"You're right. It does. Sometimes more than you think it will." Chris agreed.

"Was it worth it?" She asked.

Chris choked a little bit on his food as her question hit him out of nowhere. "Wow. That's a pretty big question, especially coming from you. At this moment right now looking at you, I'd have to say no."

"Then why'd you leave?"

"I traveled a lot."

"But mom showed me pictures. You used to be there a lot. Then she said you stopped coming around and she didn't know why."

Chris didn't know how to explain this to her. He didn't even really want to explain it to her. How do you tell your child why you just walked away, especially when you're far from proud of it. But she deserved to know an answer.

"Back then I was young, stupid, and given a lot of freedom. I didn't make the best decisions. I started to run with some bad people and got into bad things. I couldn't go home like that. If I showed up like that your mother would have killed me. Soon I realized I needed to straighten myself out. And a that point I thought you were better off without me. I had already fucked up a few times, I would probably have done it again."

"Mom said you were a really good dad when I was born."

"She did?" Chris asked surprised.

"Yes. And I would have rather had you there."

"You don't know that for sure."

"Yes I do. Do you know how hard it is going to school and doing family projects and heritage speeches and not knowing anything about half of who you are? To wonder why you weren't good enough for someone to stick around? To wonder what was wrong with you to make them leave?"

"Angie, I'm so sorry you felt that way. You were never the problem. I don't ever want you to feel like you're not good enough. I was the one who wasn't good enough for you. Your mom and I weren't together anymore, so we couldn't have that little picture perfect family. I was on drugs. I was binge drinking. I was never in the same place for more than a day. You didn't deserve to have that around."

"Then why did you have to leave in general. You didn't have to. After I was born you could have just stayed home." Angelina brought up.

"There's no way to say this without it sounding horrible. But I didn't want to. I've wanted wanted to wrestle. I trained for years and was offered a shot. Your mom encouraged me to take it, and I trusted her with you, so I went."

"You're right. That does sound horrible." Angelina agreed while Chris was looking upset. "Especially when you cleaned yourself up and still didn't come back."

"I couldn't look your mother in the eye after everything I put her through, let alone you."

"So you just continued to pretend like we didn't exist while you got girlfriend after girlfriend and branched out into music and cruises and lived the best life you could dream of?"

"When you put it that way it sounds bad."

"It is bad Chris, because that's exactly how it is."

"I may not have been around but I didn't pretend that you didn't exist."

"Really? Name one person you told about me?"

Chris couldn't answer. Other than his family and friends he had at the time, no one else knew about her.

"But I thought about you every day. And every year on your birthday I have a pink frosted cupcake just like you had at your first. And I always wish that you're happy."

Angelina was taken aback. That was not the answer that she was expecting to hear. She thought she was going to meet with a man who left her just to go live out his crazy dreams because he was selfish and when he succeeded never look back. But that didn't seem to be the vibe she was getting. That was an act of a man who cared.

"See this tattoo right here?" He asked as he pointed to an ink spot hidden within his sleeve. "It's an angel. It's for you. When you were born, I used to rock you and sing to you at night to help you sleep. I'd make up songs about how you were my precious little angel."

At this point Angelina was trying to not cry. As a child she was sad. When she got older and found out who he was she got angry. She held onto resentment for years and she wanted nothing more than to be mad at him right now, but she just couldn't be. He wasn't selfish. At least not complete.y He really did believe she was better off without him complicating her life.

"Brunch may have been a bit early to start this conversation." Angelina finally said.

"Yeah, this was a lot deeper than I expected it to be. Then again, part of me expected to still be talking to a five year old." Chris agreed with a nervous chuckle. "But you're clearly not five anymore."

"Nope. Not for some time now. Angelina laughed also.

"So did you have any plans for the rest of the day?" Chris asked.

"I was looking into the intro to DDP yoga at 4:00. That looked like it might be interesting." She replied.

"It is. I used to do it. How about I join you?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. We can wear our yoga pants and messy buns together and match!"

"I don't know about going that far." Angelina laughed. "But yeah. That sound like fun."

Chris did have things he had to tend to throughout the day so he wasn't able to be with her much, but he did show up at 4:00 just like he said he would. The class was pleasantly surprised to see him there as well since he wasn't scheduled for it. They spent a good amount of time talking before the class and during some breaks. Angelina also made sure to make fun of him a few times during the class. When it was over, everyone wanted to take pictures with Chris and talk to him, and Angelina waited.

"Thanks for waiting for me. You didn't have to, but I'm glad you did." Chris said as he met up with her outside of where the class was. She just smiled. "Do you wanna go get a cool down smoothie?"

"I would love a smoothie right about now."

"I know wrestling isn't really your thing, but we're doing a finale show tomorrow afternoon and I'm going to be performing. It would mean a lot to me if you were there." Chris said as they got their smoothies.

"Sure. Who knows, itt might be fun. I mean most of the men are in underwear right? Or at least shirtless."  
"Hey! None of that!" Chris said as he put his arm around her. "No boys until you're married!"


	7. Chapter 7

The last day of the cruise was quite nice. Angelina slept in enjoying the bed and the view around her. She spent the rest of the morning in her room reading. She was going to miss the balcony and the sea air. She went to the show like she said she would. She was never into wrestling, but she had to admit those guys put on a good show. They had great amounts of athleticism. And the crowd was reacting really well to almost everyone. It was actually fun. And she knew that Chris had seen her in the crowd. She waited around after the show until almost everyone else had left before going up to him.

"So the farewell dinner tonight, do you think you'd want to sit with me this time?" Chris asked her.

"I don't know…"

"Come on Chris." One of the wrestlers who was still there interrupted. "Leave her alone. You're old enough to be her dad."

"Exactly!" Chris answered with a smile. "So what do you say?"

"I still really just want to blend in." She answered quietly.

"So you don't want me to tell everyone? Because that's what I was planning on doing."

"Please no."

"Well you have to tell me what the hell is going on." The wrestler perked up again.

Late that night most of the people on the ship were finishing up their packing or were asleep. But Chris was at Angelina's room and they were both sitting on their balcony.

"The stars are beautiful out here." Angelina commented. "And the moon is so bright."

"Yeah. There's nothing out here to dim them." Chris added.

"I wish they could be like this all the time."

"Do you want one?" Chris asked.

"What?" She asked confused.

"You can buy them. Do you want one? We can name is the angel star."

Angelina laughed. "No. I just like to look at them."

Chris sat there on the balcony just watching her as she looked across the sky. "I'm really glad you came. I can't believe I'm actually sitting here talking with you when I thought I would never see you again."

"I'm glad we were able to talk." Angelina said as she looked over at him instead of the sky.

"Now that we've run into each other, I'd really like to talk more. And learn more about your life. And be a part of it."

"One step at a time Chris." Angelina commented.

He just nodded. There wasn't much else he could do. "I better go and let you get some sleep. It's getting pretty late."

"Yeah, I guess I should get some rest. Goodnight Chris."

"Goodnight Angie." He smiled.

Angelina wanted to get off the shop as soon as it docked. She was done with the swaying and bumping of the water. And she wanted to see her mom. As soon as she got off of the boat and saw her she ran into her arms.

"Angie! I've missed you! Did you have a nice time? Where's Chris? Did you throw him overboard?" Beth went on as she hugged her daughter.

Angelina laughed. "No I didn't throw him off. I don't know where he is thought. I didn't see him this morning."

"Are you supposed to wait for him or anything?"

"I don't think so. He didn't say anything about it. Besides, there's a lot of people here."

"Alright, well let's go home. I've got dinner going in the slow cooker. I Can't wait to hear about everything!" Beth said as they walked back to the car.

"I figured either the food would be amazing or inedible, so I thought I'd make you a home cooked meal in case it was the latter." Beth said as she filled two large bowls with beef stew from the crock pot.

"Thank you! The food was good, but nowhere near as good as yours" Angelina said as a bowl was placed in front of her.

"Why thank you!" Beth said as she sat down. "So tell me everything."

"It was a rough start, but it was okay. The room was incredible! I felt like a princess." Angelina exclaimed.

Beth laughed. "Well that's good. How were things with Chris? Did you get to spend any time with him?"

"We did talk a few times. Did some things together. Got some answers."

"Good."

"I wish you were there too though. You would have loved the spa."

"Yes, that does sound nice."

Angelina spent their dinner telling her mom about the cruise and what her and Chris did. She told her how he had freaked out when he saw an older guy talking to her. Beth laughed at that.

"Are you glad you went?" Beth asked after Angelina had explained the whole trip.

"I am." Angelina answered. "Is it alright with you if I go up to bed? I'm pretty tired."

"Of course sweetheart. Go rest. I'm glad you had a good time." Beth said as she hung her daughter again.

"Night mom."

Angelina had gone upstairs and Beth was cleaning up the kitchen. She was doing the dishes as her cell phone rang, so she dried off her hands and answered it.

"Hey Chris. Sorry I wasn't able to see you earlier." She answered.

"Hey. Yeah it was a mob scene there. How's Angie? You guys get home okay?"

"Yeah. She's good, tired though. She went up to bed not too long ago. But she told me all about everything."

"All good I hope?"

"Well she told me about the poor kid she thought you were going to kill." Beth laughed.

Chris chuckled. "Yeah, I guess dad instincts kicked in or something."

"Good. That's a good thing."

"She's a great kid."

"I've always thought so."

"Listen, I want to help with college."

"Chris, I can't ask you to do that." Beth had been so used to doing everything without him after all these years, she felt like she couldn't ask him for anything at this point, let alone something this big.

"You're not. I'm offering. She wants to do something with her life. I want to help."

"But Chris…"

"I'm doing it. I haven't contributed in years. It's the least I can do."

Beth smiled. "Thank you Chris. That would be great. Maybe she'll broaden her school search."

The next morning when Angelina woke came downstairs her mother was getting ready for wor.

"Hi sweetie! How'd you sleep?" Beth greeted.

"Good. It was nice to sleep in a bed that wasn't moving." Angelina answered.

"Good. Listen, I have to run but real quick I have some great news. Chris called last night and said he wanted to help out with college!" Beth said excitedly.

"Oh." Angelina said stunned.

"I know! It's it great! Now you can look into the colleges you really want to go to!" Her smile was so wide. She was very excited for her daughter. "I have to go. I'm going to be late. I'll see you tonight."

Beth kissed her on the cheek before he left for the door. Angelina just kind of slumped down in the kitchen chair.


	8. Chapter 8

The next few months Chris wasn't able to visit because he was over in Japan but that didn't mean he hadn't kept i touch, or tried to. He would call when he could, keeping in mind the time difference. He had gotten a hold of Beth a few times, but never Angelina. One day she got a surprise when she came home from school and he was sitting in her living room.

"Hey!" He said excitedly.

"What are you doing here?" She asked shocked.

"I just got back so I thought I'd stop by on the way to my parents for Thanksgiving." He replied.

"He said he hadn't been able to get a hold of you so I invited him for dinner." Beth said from the kitchen.

"I've been busy with school and college applications and essays and stuff."

"I'd love to hear about everything." Chris said with a smile.

"I have a big history test tomorrow. I have to study. I'm sorry."

"You go on up to your room and study now. I'll call you when dinner is ready." Beth called out.

Angelina went upstairs without really saying anything else.

"She's been working really hard. Most nights she's at the kitchen table with notebooks and textbooks everywhere." Beth said to Chris as she walked into the room.

"Does she do anything else?" Chris asked.

"She works here and there. Mostly babysitting or tutoring so she can make her own schedule around her school work. Then she can make her own money to do things."

"Trying to be independent like her mom huh?" Chris asked with a smile.

Beth returned the smile. "Seems like it. By the way, thank you again for your help. I know she wants to go to school and I Was worried she'd be so limited."

"Don't mention it."

"Really I appreciate it. I think she's been working so hard trying to scholarships."

"I want her to go where she wants to go. She deserves it."

"It's a shame you weren't around longer."

"I know. But at least now I'm in a position to be able to help her. I just wish she could see my parents. They've missed her so much. But she's still weird with me, I can't ask her to see them."

"Things take time Chris. You can't expect her to go from you being absent to a happy family overnight."

"I wish we could be that happy family." Chris stated.

"I gave up that dream long ago. So, how are your parents?" Beth asked changing the subject.

Time kept on going by and Chris showed up again around Christmas to spend some time with Angelina. He was trying to make nice memories to make up for when he wasn't there. He also made sure to keep his schedule clear for her eighteenth birthday. She was still pretty quite at Christmas but she opened up a little more during her birthday. It probably had something to do with the picture she saw and the memories Chris had shared with her while they were on the cruise. Now her prom and graduation were right around the corner. Chris wanted to be there, but Angelina said it wasn't a good idea. She didn't want to explain everything to her date an have it take away from the night. He understood though he was a little upset about it. So he did the next best thing. Angelina arrived home late that night by herself. Beth and Chris were waiting up for her.

"Welcome home honey. Did you have a good time?" Beth asked when Angelina walked through the front door.

"Yeah I had a lot more fun that I thought…" Angelina stopped talking when she saw Chris.

He smiled at her and stood up from the couch. "You look beautiful."

She was in a floor length fitted black and white gown. Her hair was up in a bun of curls. She had jewelry on, but it was subtle, accenting the outfit rather than standing out on it's own.

She looked stunned. "I thought you weren't coming."

"You said you didn't want me here earlier when your friends were here so your mom suggested I come by later when you get home. I wanted to see you." He told her.

"Why? Why do you keep showing up unannounced?" Chris was a bit startled at her question and didn't know what to say. "Are you two a thing again now or something?"

"What? No." Beth answered.

"Well you're talking to him all the tie and inviting him over." Angelina said crossing her arms over her chest.

"Because he's your father." Beth said sternly, not sure where this attitude was coming from all of the sudden. "And you'll have a warning next time. We were talking tonight and he wants to come to your graduation. So when you get the tickets I'll need two of them."

"No." Angelina said bluntly.

"What?" Beth asked confused.

"You don't have to tell anyone who I am. You ca just say I'm a family friend. Or I'll just stay in the back by myself." Chris offered.

"No." Angelina stayed firm.

"Why not?" Beth asked getting frustrated.

"I don't want him there. I don't want him here tonight. I don't want him anywhere near me."

"Angie, what's gotten into you?" Beth asked as she stood up. "That is no way to act to him. He wants to pay for you to go to school. He's trying to do what's best for you. You have to let him be there."

"No I don't. And I don't want him to pay for it. I don't want his money."

"And just how do you plan on going then?"

"I'm finding my own ways. I have my savings, loans, community college, scholarships. Anything's better than taking it from him. And then I'm going to go on and become a teacher somewhere. Anywhere. I want to make a difference in kids lives and be there for him." Angelina ranted.

"Where did this come from?"

"It's been there. You told me I didn't have to have a relationship with him if I didn't want to and I don't. I never once reached out to him. I try and ignore him when he just shows up or calls . So now I'm voicing it." Angelina answered.

"But why? I thought we were getting along. I'm really trying to be here for everything." Chris asked.

"Too little too late, dad."

"But our trip…"

"I went to get answers. I got them. I understand why you left but you had no excuse for not coming back. None at all. If you didn't want to come back before this you don't need to be here now." She said angrily with tears in her eyes. She turned away from them to go up to her room.

"But I want to be here now." He said causing her to stop.

"Good. Now you can spend your life wanting someone to be in your life knowing they have no interest in being in it."

Angelina ran up to her room slamming and locking the door leaving her mother completely shocked and Chris dejected.


End file.
